Reset Яegret
by 4ntarctica
Summary: You're bored... And the only thing that seems to interest you is playing Undertale again. You promised yourself you wouldn't reset, but wouldn't it be fine if you just did it once, just to do another pacifist run? No harm done, right? Wrong.
1. Talking With a Demonic Flower

Hello! This fanfic has been on Quotev for a while, but I feel like 'yall on need some love.

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You look through your browser's tabs, bored. You've been obsessed with Undertale ever since Flowey offered you friendliness pellets in the demo. After completing a blind neutral round and then resetting to get true pacifist, you decided to listen to Flowey and never reset.

Although... You're bored. You've read so many fanfictions, fancomics, fanimations. Looked at ask blogs for Sans and Papyrus- both original and underswap. Now, the only thing that seems interesting to you is the game itself. You wouldn't dare to do Genocide- oh no. You've watched playthroughs and have seen very depressing comics and have decided never to do it. You would never get bored enough to go through that emotional rollercoaster. You open up the game, and find your mouse hovering over the reset button.

 _Stupid._ You think, _it's just a video game, you shouldn't get so attached to it._ And... You click.

Nothing happens.

 _Well, that's a relief. Now I don't really have to-_

Your computer screen goes black... And everything else.

Except...

Your eyes adjust. There's a faint light from above. You look down, you can't make much out, but it looks like you're standing on a patch

Of yellow

Flowers.

 _What?! How did I get here?!_ You think. You recognize your location instantly, it's where Frisk first fell into the underground. _Somehow... When I reset... I got sucked into the game? It's just like a horrible fanfic..._

Tentatively, you tiptoe through the hallway and into the door that leads to the room where you meet Flowey. You expect the usual friendliness pellets shpeal, everything seems like the beginning of Undertale to you. Sure enough, Flowey is there.

"So..." He says, surprising you a bit. It's not the beginning of the game. "You didn't listen to me, did'ja? You tried to reset _didn't ya?_ "

You back up from Flowey, sweating and feeling a stab of guilt.

"I-I was only going to reset once I swear!" You say, regretting ever considering it.

"Oh?" The flower says in a mocking tone. "You probably promised yourself that you'd never reset. How do I know you won't give up on your promise this time? Everyone is living their lives peacefully right now, they've formed a family. But if you reset, they'll go back to square one. And while you reset, you'd promise yourself" Flowey then morphed his face to look hauntingly like yours "'Only one more reset... I'll just kill Jerry this time... I don't really like (least favorite main character) too much. I want to get the Mettaton ending...' Soon enough you'd go around killing everyone."

"That's not true! I-I wouldn't do that! It was just going to be the one time!" You say, half to yourself and half to Flowey. You're not too sure if you'd hold up on your promise.

"Hmm... Either way, I'll give you your reset. But not a True Reset. Oh no. I'll make it so Toriel, Sans, Papyrus... Everyone you've made friends with. I'll make them remember everything, and Frisk... You'll travel through the Underground in place of Frisk, feeling guilty the whole way. I'll have fun seeing you suffer." And he laughed his evil laugh.

You're chilled, as the laugh is much more genuine and creepy in real life than it is in the game. Flowey disappears, burrowing underground, and you're suddenly back waking up on the first bed of flowers.

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So yes! Reader insert! I'm not too much of an expert on these, so I won't do anything fancy with letters and such. No need to worry newbies!


	2. No, I'm Not Frisk

This fanfic was inspired by the fact that every single fanfic on Quotev seems to be a reader insert. I thought I could do it better.

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Toriel looked down lovingly at the small child in her arms. Frisk was their name, and the two had been living as a family on the surface for a few months. "Did you know that snails talk… Very… Slowly?" Toriel said, chuckling at herself before she realized Frisk was asleep. Toriel stood up to put Frisk in their bed, but her movements seemed to slow. _Everything_ seemed to slow, and Toriel felt her body going backwards, backwards, faster… Faster… Things rushed around in opposite, the last few months passing by her in a blur, all with a strange absence of Frisk. When the dizzying time skip came to a halt, Toriel found herself in a hallway in the ruins near the small opening to the surface world. She knew where she was, but not when. Toriel had visited this place every day since she relocated to the ruins after Asriel and ██████ died. It had been about what- 50 years since that happened back in 202X? Time could've skipped back anywhere between a few months or half a century. Toriel sighed, walking towards the opening, and gasped.

You stand up on the bed of flowers. _Nowhere to go but forwards, I guess._  
Getting up, you walk forwards, examining the light grey stone of the cave you've only seen in pixels. You walk through the doorway to the room Flowey first shows up in. You look around the big space for the demonic flower that might be following you around, and you hear a gasp.

" _Frisk!"_ A feminine, motherly voice says behind your turned head.

You wince, and look down at your clothing. _Blue shirt and pants with two purple stripes… This is going to be_ wonderful _._ You don't want to look at Toriel. You don't need any more guilt. You feel a furry paw on your shoulder. Looking up, you see the boss monster's disappointment on her face.

"I-I'm not Frisk." You mumble, turning away. "I'm not them."  
 _  
Why can't I just have a regular Saturday? Why do I have to suffer through all this guilt? Why me? I've seen other people reset with no problem. Even do several genocide runs in a row. The universe just seems to pick on me._ You shake away Toriel's paw.

Maybe if you could find that stupid flower and maybe shake him around a bit he'd send you back. Or at least you could find somewhere in the ruins where you'd never see Toriel again. But Toriel has other plans. She picks you up into an embrace, and wipes away tears on your cheak that you didn't realize you had.

"There there, child. It's ok. If you can tell me what happened, perhaps that would help? This is all very confusing, but maybe we can work through it together." Toriel gently holds your face in her paws, and you realize how soft her fur is. You begin to relax, but you wonder if you should tell her about the reset, how much of what you know you should divulge.  
"Well… I saw Flowey, that flower, and he said that he'd turn back time to when Frisk fell down to the underground, but instead of Frisk, I'd fall down..?" You wonder if that satisfied Toriel's questioning, as it left a lot of holes in your story. Toriel slowly nods, thinking, and you wonder about her knowledge of Flowey. Did Frisk ever tell her who he was? You realize that you don't know anything about what happened after the end of the game. That doesn't help the situation.

Toriel stared at the strange child who looked familiar yet not so. They had explained some of what happened, yet seemed like they were hiding so much. How did that flower do something like turn back time? Why do I remember everything, if time did reset? Why did this child replace Frisk, of all the humans who had fallen into the underground? Why were they so sad, face so full of guilt? What was their name? They seem almost… Otherworldly. The faint energy of their soul vibrated in strange ways. Everything was so strange, but Toriel decided to push away the questions, doubts and fears for the child. Their safety and comfort were first priority. Toriel let go of the child's shoulder, and motioned for them to follow. Unfortunately, they were most definitely older and larger than Frisk, so Toriel was unable to carry them through the ruins. The child was hesitant at first, but seemed relieved that they didn't have to talk. The pair then began walking through the long corridors of the ruins.

You look around at the purplish brick walls of the ruins, holding Toriel's furry paw. Apparently she didn't want to ask any more questions for now, which was fine with you. You don't think you could've survive anymore interrogation. As you and Toriel walk down past the room where in the game, Toriel leaves you, you notice that despite the reset, the Froggits didn't seem confused or anything. Their just sitting there, a bit wary of Toriel, but other than that they seemed unaffected by the emotional and mental trauma you'd expect a reset to cause. Maybe that's just how their face looked? Flowey did say that everyone's memories would be intact. The thought flits around a bit in your mind before Toriel pulls you away from the Froggits and your questioning. In time, you both reach Toriel's home, the quaintness and homeliness enhanced by your non-pixelated look of it. Part of you wants to be excited- this whole world it what you've been obsessing over for a few months now, but the other part of you is still gnawing on the guilt deep in your stomach. You follow Toriel inside, and she goes into the kitchen, and starts moving around some cooking supplies. While pots and pans clatter around, she says

"Go rest, there's a spare bed in the first room down the hallway" she points down to the hallway "I'll make some pie, and then we can talk."

And you start to freak out a bit.

Flowey watched the human as they encountered Toriel. Man, was he in _luck!_ A new human to toy around with! If Flowey was completely honest with himself, he did think about resetting a few times. The only thing that stopped him was his memories of being Asriel, Absolute God Of Hyperdeath. He didn't want to go through that again, but with this new, strange human? He finally found a good excuse to reset. Despite what Flowey said to the human, he wasn't able to save the memories of every monster in the underground, not even everyone Frisk encountered on their journey. He was only able to save the memories of eight; Toriel and Asgore, Papyrus and Sans, Undyne and Alphys, and finally, Mettaton and Napstablook. Despite this, Flowey reasoned that it was a good way to spark some chaos into this timeline. Ah, the confusion that would endure. Though, something still nagged at the back of Flowey's mind… Why was this human here? How did the one controlling their timeline end up in it?


	3. Spooky Scary Skeletons

...This is the last of the chapters I had written before I published this on here. Get ready for lots of time between this and the next update.

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Papyrus watched Sans as he fiddled with the machine under the tarp. He had seen his brother do this many times before, though Sans had told him that he was trying to fix it- so why did it need to be checked? Did Sans think that the machine was affected by the time-reverse thing?

"yep. it's a reset." Sans mumbled, though Papyrus was still able to hear him. Sometimes Papyrus didn't like how quiet his brother was. It made him wonder how happy he really was, and if under that perma-smile there was just a sad husk of a monster. Although it was just a suspicion, it didn't stop The Great Papyrus from being extra-nice to Sans. Even when he was making bad puns. Breaking his long train of thought, Papyrus questioned his brother.

"RESET?" He couldn't keep a bit of suspicion from leaking into his voice. Sans winced, a small motion that most would overlook. Papyrus, however, had been living with Sans his whole life. "SANS…"

"alright. fine. this machine is a time machine."

"AND YOU ACTIVATED IT? WHY?" Sans looked a bit horrified at the prospect.

"what? no. i didn't do that. it doesn't even work. it just records things right now." It was obvious he didn't want to talk about those things, but Papyrus questioned further.

"...WHAT TYPE OF THINGS?" Sans sighed, realizing that he couldn't hide anything else. Papyrus was just too persistent. "among other things… resets. which is what we just experienced." "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS?" Papyrus felt betrayed, a metaphorical-gut wrenching feeling, but he wanted to understand his brother.

Sans looked away, his smile looking painful. "nightmares." He said quietly. "the whole thing terrifies me. resets. timelines. beings powerful enough to do things over and over again. i can't- i'm not able to do things without thinking _none of this matters. it'll all reset in the end._ i'm broken. papyrus… i kept this from you because you're my brother. i love you. i don't want you to be broken too."

Papyrus looked at his brother. His eye sockets were filled with tears. "SANS… I- I'M SO SORRY. I WISH I COULD HAVE HELPED YOU. I WISH I KNEW. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE IN PAIN LIKE THIS. SANS-"

Sans hugged his brother right there and then. "we've both made mistakes paps. don't. don't blame it all on yourself. we're family, right? we stick together. we'll get through this." Papyrus nodded, and hugged his brother back. "and… well… since there's no more secrets." Papyrus barely heard his brother. "i guess i gotta tell you 'bout… our parents."

Sans sighed. He had just given Paps the lowdown on where they came from and what they were. His brother looked at him with sad eyes.

"SANS… I'M GLAD YOU TOLD ME ABOUT ALL THIS." Sans looked up in surprise. "WHAT? WHAT DID YOU THINK I WOULD SAY?" Papyrus said pressingly.

"i dunno… i thought you might've disowned me or somethin." Sans mumbled back. He thought about Alphys, and how she found the strength to tell everyone about her mistakes. He couldn't even tell his brother where they both came from without having some huge time-warping event to happen.

Papyrus's gaze softened. "I WOULD NEVER DO THAT! SO… ER, WHY ARE YOU CHECKING OUT THE TIME MACHINE?" Sans could tell Papyrus was trying to change the subject, but the time machine was exactly why he told Papyrus about their parents.

"i'm trying to get our dad back."

You walk out of Toriel's room. Toriel's there, patiently waiting.

She nods. "That's better." She turns around halfway, "Now I think we must visit some friends of mine- Sans and Papyrus… I suppose you already know who they are. They might know what to do. At the very least we'll be able to see them."

You nod, a smile growing on your face. Unlike with first meeting Toriel, you aren't an emotional mess anymore. Plus, what Undertale fan wouldn't want to meet the skelebros in person? You go along being happy following Toriel before you realize something.

 _Wait. I'm responsible for all this. I pretty much reset the timeline._ You stop dead in your tracks. _Sans is gonna dunk me._

Toriel looks back at you, realizing you stopped.

"What's wrong?" She asks, concern lacing her voice.

"Nothing!" You say hurriedly "I uh… Just need to tie my shoes!" You curse yourself for making the worst excuse in the history of excuses, but Toriel doesn't seem to mind, even if she caught on to the lie. You lean down, re-tie your shoe, and reluctantly follow Toriel out toward Snowdin Woods.


End file.
